By Monk
It has to be said that, with a few exceptions, blues guitarists are like a good red wine – they just get better with age. And it often takes that aging process to garner them the admiration and respect which they deserve. This second assertion has never really been true of Billy Gibbons, as he always has been one of the most respected, if somewhat under-rated, blues artists of his generation, even if his light in that regard was not always allowed to shine within the confines of ZZ Top, especially in their chart-topping MTV-friendly ‘Eliminator’ era… however, the respect in which he is held by his contemporaries was brought home to me recently during numerous conversations with fellow attendees at the funeral of Belfast blues legend Rab McCullough, when Gibbons’ name consistently came to the fore during discussions about other great guitarists…
With ZZ Top seeming to be on something of an extended hiatus, at least on the recording front, for the guts of the past decade, Gibbons has used the intervening time to follow a solo path, with ‘Hardware’ being third in the series, and the second to see him collaborating with drummer/producer (and co-writer) Matt Sorum. And it could be argued that, thematically at least, ‘it is a logical sequel to his first solo effort, 2015’s ‘Perfectamundo’; where that debut profiled Gibbons’ love of Latino and Mexicana rhythms and sounds, ‘Hardware’ focuses on that of the desert landscapes of California and Nevada, and the influence those vast, often uncharted, landscapes have had on generations of songwriters… In fact, the album was recorded deep in the heart of said desert, a process which no doubt resulted in one of it’s most defining and powerful moments, in Dr John-meets-Tom Waits-style closing track ‘Desert High’, which sees Gibbons at his most lyrical and laconic in equal measure.
‘Hardware’ is also a deeply personal album, seeing Gibbons exploring the blues in all its myriad forms, from deeply mournful life-on-the-road lamentations such as ‘Vagabond Man’ to the joyous surf swing of lead single ‘West Coast Junkie’, from hard-stomping porch-shakers like album opener ‘My Lucky Card’ and ‘Stackin’ Bones’, through serious string-bending slideshows (sic) to passages which show that what is left out is often more important that what is included. There are plenty of Gibbons’ trademark lyrical sideswipes (“you’d think I was a highway the way she hit the road”) alongside the rich tone we associate with his guitar sound.
‘Hardware’ is the sound of musician confident in his own skin, reminiscing about, and celebrating, the road which has led him to this stage in his life, and continually looking forward to the many more miles which lie ahead of him, looking beyond the place where the road ends, with the smoke pouring from his tyres in the process. This is modern blues-rock at its best and a testament to the creative force behind it.
- ‘Hardware’ is released on Friday (4 June). You can get your copy HERE.
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